Review: Blue Sausage Infant – Negative Space

Fading into being as a concoction of chattering astral synthesisers, muffled murmurs of sleep talk and an eerie xylophonic loop, Blue Sausage Infant is as sonically bewildering as the project name might suggest. Coil are the most immediate reference point during opening track “Motion Parallax”, which provokes a sort of “ghostly funfair” vibe during its opening eight minutes – rhythm is defined in light staccato plods, while subtle shrieks and scrapes wind their way in and out of the eternal melody cycle like the haunts of a dark and gloomy playground. Key to the excellence of this first track is the addictiveness of that central motif, forever creeping further under the skin with its sinister minor key.

So where exactly does a 14-minute kraut jam fit into all of this, once such a dark and understated atmosphere has been permitted to linger throughout the 20 minutes of the opening piece? Who knows. The title track is a most bizarre move: unrelenting motorik beats, monotonous bass grooves, phased synthesisers and overlapping guitar leads shatter the dreamscape of “Motion Parallax” in an instant, brushing it aside as though oblivious to the fact it ever existed. Personally I quite enjoy such an abrupt transition – it sort of resembles awaking from a murky nightmare, only to have the tangible logic of reality slot quickly into place again – but the piece itself feels rather generic and directionless. The rhythm section plays anchor, guitars and electronics are untethered to run riot over the top, and “Negative Space” sends itself round in a rather vacant circle.

But the deep space drones of “Subferal” do enough to put Negative Space back on track again, with brash synthesiser tones spluttering over the ominous central chord. Certainly, the more abstract side of Blue Sausage Infant seems to give way to the more captivating ideas, at which point the atmosphere feel simultaneously otherworldly and internalised, as though leaving the imagination to run wild over what might lay beyond the very edges of the universe. Good stuff for the most part.